Making Clear What Is Hidden In Plain Sight

The Social Media Challenge For Children To Commit Suicide

The Blue Whale Game, also known as the “Blue Whale Challenge“, is a social network phenomenon that started in Russian, in 2016.

The game consists of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators over a 50-day period, with the final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide.

“Blue Whale” came to prominence in May 2016 through an article in a Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, that linked many unrelated child suicides to membership of the group “F57” on the Russian-based VKontakte social network.

The horrific tasks include self-harming, watching horror movies and waking up at unusual hours, but these gradually get more extreme. Below is a list of what to look for before or after the teen has committed suicide.

Here is a list of what to look for:

Draw or paint pictures of whales or whale bones.

Carve specific phrases, picture or messages on the person’s own body.

Wake up very early and watch scary videos or an entire day watching them.

Make cuts anywhere on the person’s own body, mainly arms or legs.

Write or talk to someone in secret codes.

Write a status online that relates to whales, being a whale or blue whale.

Stand on the edge of a rooftop or bridge early in the morning.

Poke the person’s own arm/hand with a needle.

Do not talk to anyone for a full day, a day of silence.

Sudden activity with cranes or railroads.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among Americans age 10 to 14 and the second among people 15 to 34.